by BluesBrother 53 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Great find also trebor!
So if piñatas are now "ok" because they have lost any religious connotation in an area, so too are birthday's or Christmas....right??
I mean in my part of the world, there is very little "religious attachment" to these practices! They are just days for families to enjoy together!
Damn Hypocrites!
1917 Watch Tower is before Jesus chose the representatives of the organization as his Faithful and Discreet Slave so it doesn't count, they were still a part of Christendom at the time.
(Forget it, I actually just read the article and I see the Bible Students pre Faithful and Discreet Slave status apparently had it right.)
This is just like the "you can't have an organ transplant or you are a cannibal" and the reversal not long after.... "Oh well, they will be resurrected"
People didn't just "die" in Malawi, they were beaten, starved, chased from their homes, raped.
15. Why were the Christian witnesses of Jehovah barbarically mistreated in Malawi, and what quality of faith did they manifest?
*** w70 4/1 pp. 218-219 pars. 15-16
When Building Disciples, Motivate the Heart ***
15 As recently as October 1967, the refusal to join a particular political party and the failure to carry a party card identifying one with the party, resulted in a barbaric wave of torture heaped upon Jehovah’s witnesses in the Central African country of Malawi. An unknown number of women witnesses of Jehovah were raped. Forty of these were pregnant. Due to the way they were abused, each one suffered a miscarriage. Because they refused to buy a political card, they were beaten severely, sexually assaulted and their property was destroyed. Yet President Banda of Malawi could not get them to break integrity and renounce their God Jehovah. These Witnesses were motivated from the heart. They had true Christian qualities built in them.
16 When a Christian witness of Jehovah of Ntifinyire Village was beaten for refusing to purchase a political card, Banda’s youths took a knife and made cuts encircling his arms and then his legs and inflicted many cuts on his head. Other Witnesses had six-inch nails driven into their feet, bicycle spokes were forced through their legs and then these Christians were told to run. Still others were tortured with a burning stick placed against their arms, legs, head and entire body. Still these Witnesses refused to compromise their religious beliefs or deny their God Jehovah under such barbaric torture. Do you have the quality of Christian endurance in you to stand such tests? You may be called upon someday to prove your faith. How will your faith stand up?
16. (a) What other trials did Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi suffer? (b) What questions should we ask ourselves, and why?
Let's ask this question: Why did Garrett Losch refuse to appear before the United States Court when he merely received a deposition? Would he have been abused? Raped? Cut with a knife all over his body? Get his property taken from him? Have six inch nails driven into his feet? Did he have enough faith? Why not show that he has "complete trust in Jehovah" and show the 'Christian quality of endurance'?
http://watchtowerdocuments.org/zalkin-lopez-trial-court-documents/
Said it before...say it again:
HYPOCRITES!
This is eerily close to the circumstances causing my removal as an elder.
Yep, it's a cult.
This post gets the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up. I am so furious right now. Let me get this straight it's ok to use a piñata at a party because the meaning years ago is different than today. REALLY... How about Birthdays, Mother's Day; Fathers Day etc.
Now this change with the flag they are such Hypocrites.
I'm going to fly the Chilean flag on my house in the USA, just to help support the ORG!
DD
Obvious historical hypocrisy aside, I don't think it's such a bad thing that they are not making a huge deal about the flag display. The brutal persecution of JWs around the world in order to promote the 'cause' was criminal. The GB (then and now) collectively are culpable for essentially forcing the JWs to take the stands they did.
This kinder, gentler stance is so much more rational and a small relief to see. To me, anyway.
Now if only they would lighten up on the shunning of teenagers, and others who either 'mess-up' or decide to leave the org.
Me? I'm still happy with non-theist life. But for my friends and family that are still 'in', I think this is not a bad thing.
I hope they are this reasonable on a consistent basis in all nations, and in other matters as well.
-Aude.
